Below are several tips to consider, to help your writing style and form.

1. Show, don’t tell.

I’ll give you two blocks of text. What’s the difference between them?

1. “Bill sat at the bar, fuming angrily. Boy was he ever mad!”
2. “Bill sat at the bar, his knuckles white from tightly gripping his beer. He wrinkled his brow with frustration.”

See the difference? The first chunk tells you what Bill’s problem is right upfront- he’s mad. The second one doesn’t tell you, it shows you. He’s tense. He’s gripping his drink. He’s wrinkling his forehead. These actions convey emotion.

Try to avoid using adjectives and adverbs when you’re setting a scene. Instead of saying “He howled furiously,” or “She looked horny,” try adding detail to make the reader think, like “He roared, his pain evident in his voice,” or “She smiled at him, eyes gleaming with lust.”

There are limits, however. This technique is great when first establishing a scene, or when a single, cinematic event is happening. But when you’re in a dialogue, or when you’ve got a bunch of actions occurring in rapid succession, you want your sentences to be quick and concise. Going into detail on the frustrated look on a man’s face in the middle of a fistfight isn’t going to go over that well.

2. Start with a single point.

One of the hardest parts of creating a story is starting. Some people tell you to start at the beginning. If that works for you, fine and dandy. If not, consider this.

Start with a single point of information. A person. A location. An event. Just pick one point. It doesn’t have to be the beginning, middle, or end; it doesn’t have to be the conflict, climax, or resolution; it can be anything. Any one, single, individual, minute detail you feel inspired about.

Now, start fleshing out that point.

• If it’s a person, who are they? What do they look like? What are they doing? Why? How do they feel? What’s their history?
• If it’s a location, describe it. The atmosphere. The weather. The inhabitants. Is it indoors or outdoors? Is it bright or gloomy? Are there animals? People? What’s going on there?
• If it’s an event, what’s going on? Who’s involved? Why is it happening? How do people feel about it? Are there spectators? Is it isolated? Is there violence? Sex? Tension?

You’ve now fleshed out the point. Start expanding now. If it was a person, you know who they are. If it’s a place, you know what’s there. If it’s an event, you know what’s going on. Now, tie them together. What’s happening around the person, and where are they? What’s happening at the place, and who’s involved? Who’s gotten into the event, and where is it?

By doing this, you’re combining these three things- characters, events, locations- into a single scene. You don’t need to write the scene out at this point- just take notes, keep track of things, and you’re fine.

Now, think about what came before this scene, what’s coming after. You don’t even have to look immediately before or after, either- you could look years into the past or future. Find a new point, and build that. Soon, you’ll have a whole batch of individual scenes.

This is where you start tying things together. Put the scenes in order. Make a chronology. Fill in the holes between scenes. Modify details to fit continuity.

At THIS point, you can stop taking notes, and start writing your story. If you’ve been taking good enough notes, you should have everything that you need- characters, events, locations, scenes, backgrounds, motivations- all written down, all in order, neatly arranged for you. It’s just a matter of turning notes into sentences, into paragraphs, into pages, into a single, solid work.

Now wasn’t that fun?

There may be more to come later. For now, sit and bask in the glow.